Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Newsletter of IUSSTF
CONTENTS
Newsletter of IUSSTF
cover story
04 A World Much Greener
Editor-in-Chief
Rajiv Sharma
Executive Director, IUSSTF
interview
09 Dr. Ray O. Johnson
04
Nishritha Bopana
Principal Science Officer, IUSSTF
(Member Convener)
Editorial Consultant
Manoj Dabas
Layout Design / DTP
Pramod Jha
11
Opinions
Opinions expressed in Connect do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of IUSSTF
or other organizations associated with
publication of Connect.
22
TiEcon 2014
Fostering Entrepreneurship
Michael Cheetham
16
20
22
26
30
36
37
Smriti Trikha
feature
11 Starry Skies
reports
Printed at :
Archana
C-78, Okhla Industrial Area
Phase-I, New Delhi - 110 020
30
Rajiv Sharma
Executive Director, IUSSTF
COVER STORY
Newsletter of IUSSTF
VISION
The major goal of this consortium is to develop and optimize selected
non-food biomass (high yielding varieties of sorghum, pearl millet,
bamboo and switch grass)-based advanced biofuel systems and bio-based
products like biogas and lignin-based high value polymers for the U.S.
and India. The successful completion of the project is expected to benefit
both nations by delivering a working model for feedstock production and
supply, biochemical conversion approaches and technologies that have
been validated on pre-commercial scale systems, and overall economics
and sustainability of biofuel production and supply systems.
Ahmed Kamal
P. Pullammanappallil
University of Florida
Gainesville, USA
CONSORTIUM OBJECTIVES
The research is grouped under three broad thrust areas or Work Programs (WP):
WP1 Feedstock development and supply
WP2 Biorefinery technologies
WP3 Sustainability, marketing and policy
A World
Much
Greener
4
Janaki Alavalapati
P. Srinivasa Rao
Shibu Jose
C. Ganesh Kumar
University of Missouri,
Columbia, USA
Indian Institute of
Chemical Technology
Hyderabad, INDIA
CONSORTIUM PARTNERS
INDIA
Lead Institution:
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad
Lead Institution:
University of Florida (UF), Gainesville,
Florida
Other Partners:
Other Partners:
Beena Patel
Industry Partners:
Green Technologies LLC, Gainesville, FL
Newsletter of IUSSTF
University of Florida cellulosic biorefinery
will be available for Indian consortium for
training purposes.
Development of an integrated biorefinery
with a focus on effluent treatment and byproduct utilization.
US Consortium members will provide
technical help to Indian partners towards
development of certification protocols and
sustainability standards, energy and emission
efficiency, supply chain management, and
economic analyses to assess viability of
advanced biofuels.
CONSORTIUM MANAGEMENT
The U.S.-India Consortium for Development of
Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel
Systems is being led by CSIR-Indian Institute
of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad,
India, which will be responsible for the smooth
functioning of the project to achieve the targets
with the help of a three-tier management
system including an administrative setup,
consortium leader and the individual partnering
institutes. The administrative setup comprises
of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
and a Project Steering Committee (PSC).
The TAC will meet at least once a year (or
more if required). The TAC will review the
project work execution and render technical
inputs to achieve the approved milestones
and deliverables. The TAC members include
Dr. C.L.L. Gowda (ICRISAT), Dr. B.D.
Kulkarni (National Chemical Laboratory),
Dr. Pankaj Patel (Abellon Clean Energy),
Dr. B. Ramachandran (IIT-Madras) and Dr.
K. Ramaswami (Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University). The PSC members include Dr.
C.L.L. Gowda (ICRISAT), Dr. B.D. Kulkarni
(NCL), Dr. Pankaj Patel (Abellon Clean
Energy) and Dr. P. Gunasekaran (Thiruvalluvar
University). The PSC will meet once a year to
review the overall progress and suggest suitable
ways to meet the proposed milestones.
INTERVIEW
DELIVERABLES
http://biofuels.ifas.ufl.edu/
Newsletter of IUSSTF
The environment
between the United
States and India
has changed
enabling a greater
flow of information
and greater
collaboration.
The next 60 years
will be very different
as compared to
the last 60 years.
Contd. on page 39
F E AT U R E
Starry
Skies
10
While creativity,
hard-work and a
solid foundation
in science and
mathematics are a
given; I encourage
young scientists
to expand their
knowledge of
business to be able
to take their ideas
into the market
place so that they
can be a part of
the movement
to solve global
challenges.
11
Newsletter of IUSSTF
to astrophysics problems such as the distance
scale
Analyze Cepheid Period-Luminosity relations
in the infra-red and apply these relations to the
extra-galactic distance scale. These relations
have traditionally been in the optical. There
are good reasons to move to the infrared: the
PL relation scatter and metallicity effects are
reduced and the effect of any possible nonlinearities are diminished.
Analyze variable star data from the CSTAR
Antarctic data such data have unprecedented
coverage over the Antarctic night. Initial
analysis has concentrated on RR Lyraes and
Blazhko RR Lyraes in the CSTAR data.
Use recent Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
(LMS/SMC) Cepheid and RR Lyrae variable
star data to study the structure of the Magellanic
Clouds.
Personnel
The Joint Center combines experts in the field
from several areas, stellar pulsation theory
and the extra-galactic distance scale with
experience across a range of wavelengths
and knowledge of state-of-the-art methods
in statistics. This group has access to many
large published and unpublished datasets.
An initial visit by the US Principal
Investigator to Delhi University and IUCAA,
Pune in November 2013 developed some
more specific initial projects. A further
visit in January 2014 by the US Principal
Investigator and one US Co-Principal
Investigator, together with some US students,
made progress on these projects.
The Indian Principal Investigator and CoPrincipal Investigator, together with one
post-doc researcher and one graduate student
visited SUNY Oswego for an extended period
in December 2013.
Collaboration
January 2014 was also noteworthy in that
there was a joint meeting between two
IUSSTF Joint Centers - the variable star
group and the CLASS ACT group (who
12
Shashi M. Kanbur
State University of
New York at Osewgo
Lucas Macri
TEAM INDIA
Ata Sarajdeni
University of Florida
Gainesville
Harinder P. Singh
University of Delhi
Ranjan Gupta
IUCAA, Pune
Current Projects
Other ongoing work in the project includes:
The development of a JHK Cepheid PL relation
for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) that will
have significantly lower dispersion and hence,
when combined with recent highly accurate
absolute calibrations of the LMC distance
will provide a precise calibrating Cepheid PL
relation
13
Newsletter of IUSSTF
the Johnson J Band. It will also provide strong
constraints for theoretical stellar pulsation
models
VITERBI-INDIA
VITERBI-INDIA
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
Period luminosity relations in the Near Infrared J, H, K bands for LMC Cepheids (taken from a paper under preparation by the group)
Metallicity [Fe/H] as a function of period determined from the light curve analysis of more than 13,000 RR
Lyrae variables in the LMC. The three regions marked by I, II and III correspond to the stars with
[Fe/H]1.35 dex,1.80< [Fe/H]<1.35dex and [Fe/H]1.80 dex, respectively (from Deb & Singh, 2014).
14
Connect September
2014
APPLICATION
DEADLINE:
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
15 November
DEADLINE:
DEADLINE:
2014 15
15 November
November 2014
2014
15
REPORT
Newsletter of IUSSTF
E
IM
X
NOVATION
N
I
R
FO
XI
XII
16
II
The Solution
Development of a
low-cost, portable
auto-refractor
The Problem
Shivang R. Dave
PlenOptika, Somerville
Lead India Partner
Sriram Ravilla
Aurolab, Madurai
Mike German
Abhijeet Gan
The Solution
The Solution
The
team
intends
to
commercialize a proprietary
novel seed treatment called
BioEnsure which contains
a mixture of beneficial
fungal endophytes designed
to improve the tolerance
of plants to abiotic stresses
such as drought, salinity and
temperature. BioEnsure is
developed by harnessing the
natural symbiotic microbe
which enables broad-spectrum
of agricultural crops to flourish
under areas of drought,
extreme temperatures and
saline soils. The team intends
to test and deploy this product
in India besides also isolating
native strains that would
optimize the efficiency of final
product.
Rusty Rodriguez
Adaptive Symbiotic
Technologies, Seattle
Anup Karwa
17
Commercializing a
transformational modular
roofing solution for low-income
urban homes
The Problem
S.N. Bose
The Solution
Shashi Buluswar
Hasit Ganatra
Re-Materials, Ahmedabad
CONNECT : You have been associated with the IndoUS Science and Technology Forum as a member of its
Governing Board for quite some time now. India and
the United States are two large countries with diverse
needs. How do you think IUSSTF can make itself more
relevant to these growing needs in the times to come?
RJ : Firstly, I am proud to be a part of IUSSTFs Governing
Board and the organization and supporting its goals, going
forward. Having said that, I feel that we can continue to
expand the surface area of involvement, i.e. invite more
young scientists, like we did at the Frontiers of Engineering
symposium in Mysore to get more people involved.
The Governing Boards are important and they can help
create a suitable environment and come up with ideas. But
they are only a starting place. What we need to do is to
create an environment where many people can take part.
Much like we have at the DST Lockheed Martin India
Innovation Growth Program. You initiate a program from
an idea that springs out of Boards activities, becomes
self igniting, moves out and in turn ignites other similar
18
Newsletter of IUSSTF
SCH
LARS
P R O G R A M
To nurture future innovators and thought leaders,
the Science & Engineering Board (SERB),
Department of Science and Technology (DST),
Govt. of India, the Indo-U.S. Science and
Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have partnered to
develop a dynamic and transformative student
exchange program between premier institutions in
India and the United States. The program is named in
honor of Satyendra Nath Bose (1894 - 1974), a
visionary Indian physicist best known for his work on
quantum mechanics in the early 1920s. The class of
particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics, Bosons,
was named after him.
ELIGIBILITY:
SCHOLARSHIP INCLUDES:
Stipend
Accommodation
Air-fare
Connect September 2014
Submission Deadline:
31 October 2014
For program information contact:
Dr. Nishritha Bopana
www.iusstf.com
www.iusstf.org
www.indousstf.org
www.indousstf.org
19
Newsletter of IUSSTF
31 July 2014
External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Secretary of State John F. Kerry led their respective
delegations to the fifth annual India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.
host the next round of the High Technology Cooperation
Group on mutually convenient dates this year.
20
21
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Convergence
from
Dialogue
22
23
24
Newsletter of IUSSTF
25
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Making
India
Proud
eminent
scientists
and
Winners
Abhishek Verma and Daksh Dua made India
extremely proud by bagging three top coveted
awards, the Intel ISEF Best of Subject Category
Award (cash prize 5000 US$); Intel ISEF First
Grand Award (cash prize 3000 US$) and Intel
Foundation Cultural and Scientific Visit to
China Award (an 11-day trip to the Chinese
cities of Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai along
with attending China Adolescent Science and
Technology Innovation Contest, the largest
national science competition in China). These
two geniuses are from Maharaja Agrasain
Public School, Delhi. Their project was in
the Animal Science category and shows how
Rubus ellipticus is an effective solution against
Giardiasis. Apart from the awards mentioned
above, Abhishek Verma and Daksh Dua will
also get a minor planet named after each one
of them as part of the ISEF First Grand Award.
26
27
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Bhaskara Bhaskara
Advanced Advanced
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Indian
citizens
currently
a
Ph.D.
on
a
full-time
Indian
citizens
currently
pursuing
a
Ph.D.
on
a
full-time
same age group at Lynbrook High school;
undertake the research work under the
the research
under would
the
basisR&D
in the fieldhe/she
of Solarwould
Energyundertake
in a public-funded
R&D workhe/she
basis in the field of Solar Energy in a public-funded
participated in various handslab/S&T
on activities
at (non-private) / recognized academic
Fellowship/Internship.
Fellowship/Internship.
lab/S&T institution
(non-private) / recognized academic
institution
the Exploratorium, California
Academy
of / college in India;
institute / university / college in India;
institute
/ university
The Program is envisaged to:
The
Sciences, NASAs Ames Research
Center
and as on 31 December 2014
Age: Upto 32 years as
on 31Program
December 2014is envisaged to:
Age: Upto
32 years
For Fellowships
ForCalifornia,
FellowshipsUSA.
Maker Faire at San Mateo,
provide
Indian or
citizens withstudents
a Ph.D. and
in Science,
Engineering
or
Indian
with a Ph.D. in Science, Engineering
This visit was jointly organized
by citizens
the Indoworld class research facilities in leading U.S. institutions;
world class research facilities in leading U.S. institutions;
Technology
Technology
US Science and Technology Forum
(IUSSTF)
promote
promote
research
and capacity
building in the
frontline research and capacity building in the frontline
Applicants
provide
proof
of independent
research
must
research must
in partnership with DST
andApplicants
Intel. Such
anprovide proof of independent
work in internationally
recognized
academic journals.
work in internationally recognized academic journals.
area of Solar Energy;
area
of Solar Energy;
exposure encouraged students and created
Open
only to applicants
working
in the field
of Solar students
encourage
encourage
and motivate
outstanding
to
take up and motivate outstanding students to take up
excitement of creative pursuits
Energy
Energyof STEM
research as a career path; and
research as a career path; and
education and motivated
young
students
to as on 31 December 2014
Age: Upto 40 years
as
on 31
December
Age: Upto
40 years
pave and
the way for the next generation scientists and
pave
the
way for2014
the next generation scientists
undertake research in the
frontier
areas
of
technologists
from India to interact with American peers,
technologists
IndiaR&D
to interact
with American
peers,
Alab/S&T
permanent position
in a publicfrom
funded
lab/S&T
Solar Photovoltaics
Solar
opportunity to the students
to Photovoltaics
assimilate
Monthly Stipend
Air-fare
Monthly Stipend
Air-fare
Contingency allowance
Contingency allowance
Solar Thermal
Solarstudies
Thermaland
a wider perspective for
future
Grid
Interaction including Smart Grids
possibilities of participating
in collaborative
Duration
Duration
Energy storage
Energy
storage
research programs. The
grand
finale
of the
Internship:
Minimum 3 months and upto 6 months
System Development
and Integration
System Development
and Integration
trip was a reception at the
residence
of Mr.
Other (any other
related
area inMinimum
Solar Energy)
Other (any
other related area in Solar Energy)
Fellowship: Minimum 3 months and upto 12 months
Fellowship:
3 months and upto 12
months
N. Parthasarathi, the
Consulate
General
of India, San Francisco. Team India eagerly
shared their experiences and their views on
SUBMISSION
DEADLINE: 15 NOVEMBER 2014
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 NOVEMBER
2014
and discussed about opportunities in India
For program information contact:
For program information contact:
and USA. l
Dr. Nishritha Bopana
Dr. Nishritha Bopana
Indo-US
Indo-US Science and Technology
Forum Science and Technology Forum
Fulbright
House, 12,
Hailey
Road, New Delhi - 110001, E-mail: jcerdc@indousstf.org
Fulbright House, 12, Hailey Road, New
Delhi - 110001,
E-mail:
jcerdc@indousstf.org
28
Website: www.iusstf.com
Website:
/ www.indousstf.org
www.iusstf.com / www.indousstf.org
Connect September 2014
29
StudentSpeak
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Sanika Hakim
Fergusson College
University of Pune
30
Interacting
with
students, researchers and other Khorana
scholars, at Indiana University has broadened
my horizons in science, education and life, in
general. My work on bacterial communication
systems, also known as quorum-sensing,
revolved around designing and optimizing a
bioassay protocol to screen for chemicals that
inhibit this communication pathway. I was awed
by the potential of these little-known chemical
communication systems in bacteria. My lab
advisor, Dr. Julia van Kessel, was an excellent
guide; with her comprehensive explanations
and unwavering enthusiasm, I was able to
undertake this project in the right direction and
Shruti Mohan
Viterbi-India Program
31
StudentSpeak
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Debarghya Sarkar
32
33
StudentSpeak
Newsletter of IUSSTF
Department of Agricultural and Biological
Engineering (ABE).
Srujan Singh
2015
ansari@biochem.wisc.edu
34
35
Newsletter of IUSSTF
TiEcon Fostering
2014 Entrepreneurship
36
37
events diary
May-June 2014
29 May-01 June 2014,
Kumarakom, India
events diary
June 2014
biodiversity, thus supporting millions of agricultural and
forest-dependent livelihoods. The ecosystem services hinge
upon the varied and extensive forest cover across this region,
that is under increasing threat of degradation from overexploitation, infrastructure development and climate change.
In order to create a scientific understanding of the causes of
forest degradation, its conservation and restoration, with a
special reference to the Western Himalayas, Ghazala
Shahabuddin (Centre for Ecology, Development and
Research, New Delhi) and Timothy Gregoire (Yale
38
Awardees
showcased
their
Mr. Michal Depa, Chief Technical Officer - Mobile Phone based HbA1c Analyzer
Mr. Tanmaye Seth, Marketing Manager, Aquagri Processing Private Ltd., and
Ganesh Vishwanath, Founder, GloBridge Ventures LLC. - Cultivated sea plants
based organic bio-stimulants. l
39
um
Indo-US Indo-US
Science Science
& Technology
& Technology
Forum Forum
IUSSTF
e Who we are
o What we do
Connect
Academia-Industry
Programs
Connect
Programs
Programs
on InnovationPrograms
and Entrepreneurship
on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
t Academia-Industry
We support
Advance
Schools & Training
Advance
Programs
Schools & Training
Public-Private
Programs
Networked
Public-Private
R&D Joint Centres
Networked R&D Joint Centres
We invite
How to
and www.indousstf.org
http://www.indousstf.org
http://www.indousstf.org
contact us? www.iusstf.org
Indo-US Science and Technology
Indo-US Science
Forum:and Technology Forum:
Catalysing Indo-US Science
Catalysing
& Technology
Indo-USCooperation
Science & Technology
over a decade.
Cooperation over a decade.